most recently, before buying politics and prose, melissa served in the obama administration -- [laughter] >> that was all planned, you know? we timed it. >> or is that hillary's train? i don't know. [laughter] i'll start again. most recently, she served in the obama administration as director of speech writing and senior adviser to secretary of state hillary clinton. she was a senior adviser on hillary clinton's presidential campaign and was co-collaborator on her white house memoir, "living history." during the clinton administration -- maybe the first one we'll say at some point -- melissa served as a presidential speech writer and deputy assistant to the president and later as director of communications to the first lady. before entering government, she reported for the delta democrat times in greenville, mississippi, the washington star and "the washington post" where she was a reporter and editor covering a range of beats from politics to sports. she's contributed commentary pieces to the new york time, "the washington post," the huffington post, she blogs for punditwire.com and the